Pair jailed over Cairns man's death

Two men were sentenced yesterday in the Supreme Court in Cairns in far north Queensland over the unlawful killing of 44-year-old Gregory Elms in January 2011.

Brandon Lee Gobus, 38, and Joshua William Hickson, 30, pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter over the death of Gregory Elms.

His body was found at his Kewarra Beach home a week after he was assaulted by Hickson and Gobus, after Mr Elms distributed explicit pictures of Hickson's sister.

Justice Jim Henry has sentenced Hickson to eight years in jail, with no parole date.

Gobus was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail, but will be eligible for parole in late July.

Justice Henry sentenced the men on the basis Mr Elms' enlarged heart stopped as a result of his ordeal.

Mr Elms' family say they are satisfied with the sentences handed to his killers.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr and Mrs Elms said they would feel forever guilty for not resolving a trivial disagreement that meant they lost contact with their son a year before his death.

They described him as a happy, hard worker and said they resented his killers' actions.